Komisarjevsky Defense Appeals Twitter Ruling To Supreme Court

Lawyers For Man Accused In Cheshire Killings Don't Want Reporters To Be Able To Tweet In Courtroom

HARTFORD — — The second defendant in the Cheshire home-invasion murders is appealing to the state Supreme Court to overturn a trial judge's ruling that allows reporters covering the case to send "tweets" from the courtroom.

The lawyers for the defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, argue that the bite-size "play-by-play" accounts are prejudicial to their client.

In an application dated Friday, lawyers Jeremiah Donovan, Walter C. Bansley III and Todd A. Bussert asked the high court to use rules that prohibit the broadcasting of sexual-assault trials to prohibit journalists from tweeting from electronic devices such as cellphones and iPads. People worldwide communicate daily through the social network Twitter, tapping out messages of 140 characters or less.

Komisarjevsky is charged in the murders of three members of the Petit family, Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. A co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was tried, convicted and sentenced to death last year for his role in the 2007 crimes.

Hawke-Petit was strangled and Michaela Petit was sexually assaulted before the house was set on fire. Dr. William Petit Jr., badly beaten, escaped and was the only family member to survive.

Reporters covering the Hayes case sent out thousands of tweets, chronicling the trial in real time and in explicit detail. Neither the defense nor the prosecution raised formal objections to the practice in the Hayes trial.

Superior Court Judge Jon C. Blue on Feb. 22 denied a motion from Komisarjevsky's lawyers to ban the tweets, saying they were not disruptive. Blue presided over Hayes' trial as well.

In their request for a speedy ruling from the Supreme Court, the lawyers said the tweets provide "what, in a sporting contest, would be described as a play-by-play description of the proceedings. These tweets reported on the testimony as it was elicited, the exhibits as they were introduced, the rulings as they were made, the spectators, the ambience, and the tweeters' own personal reactions to the courtroom events.

"The media's broadcasting from the courtroom included, among other things, the names of the minor victims and detailed descriptions of evidence concerning sexual assault charges,'' the lawyers said.

In their request to the high court, they invoked rules that ban the broadcasting of sexual-assault cases and asked the justices to "determine whether the trial proceeds in a dignified setting or before a gaggle of spectators tweeting as determinedly as a junior high home-room that has just learned that a popular cheerleader has broken up with the captain of the football team.''

The lawyers said a criminal defendant is entitled to "judicial serenity and calm.''

They contend that Petit, who has become a vocal supporter of victims' rights and of the death penalty, and a critic of Connecticut's own version of the capital process, has turned the case into "a public relations campaign.''

Because of this, the lawyers maintain, "it is essential that the trial be seen as fair and dignified, conducted with the gravitas appropriate to a decision as to whether a fellow citizen should be put to death.''

The lawyers said that while tweeting as a form of journalism is gaining acceptance, other spectators who aren't reporters "may be flirting or ordering merchandise'' between tweets about the case.

Jury selection in the Komisarjevsky case is scheduled to start within a week.

The high court had not responded to the lawyers' motion as of Wednesday afternoon.